“Canada is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. We’re trying to close the gap and save more patients lives.”

Earlier this week, the Ottawa hospital kicked off the National Public Cord Blood Bank program — until now Canada was the only G8 country without one — by accepting donations and over the next several months, collection sites will open in Vancouver and Edmonton.

Canadian Blood Services aims to amass about 18,000 samples within the next six years, in the hope of providing matches for the roughly 1,000 patients in Canada who need stem cells at any given time.

Currently, mining more than 76 international registries, matches are made only 50 per cent of the time, Smith says, and lack of diversity in samples is to blame.

Stem cells are used to treat a variety of illnesses, including leukemia and metabolic disorders, and those extracted from cord blood, which are “young” and versatile, provide the greatest hope for making matches, Smith says.

When CBS started looking for potential collection sites — government committed $48 million to the public bank program in 2011 — Brampton fit all the criteria.

Not only do its doctors deliver around 5,100 babies annually, but “it’s a community hospital with very significant diversity,” Smith says.

Calling Brampton “one of the fastest-growing and most culturally diverse regions in the country,” Joanne Flewwelling, William Osler’s Executive Vice President Clinical Services, says collection efforts at the local hospital will certainly help save more lives.

Since Canadian Blood Services already has a strong presence at William Osler, it won’t be a significant investment in infrastructure to collect the cord blood, Smith says.

Once a mother consents to the donation, stem cells can be extracted by a CBS staff member, who then ships the sample to an Ottawa processing and storage facility, one of only two that will house the public samples.

The other such facility is in Edmonton, Smith says.

Once they’re frozen, the stem cells can be stored indefinitely, but are “immediately available for patients in need,” Smith says, whether they’re in Canada or around the world.

With limited funds to draw from, it is unlikely the bank will expand collection to additional hospitals. But, Smith says, CBS may look into mobile collection kits targeting Northern communities.

Many populations are underrepresented on Canada’s adult stem cell registry, Smith says, but the gap is most pronounced among Canada’s Aboriginal communities, including Inuit, First Nations and Metis, as well as Caribbean and African populations.

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